Nasipit Outreach

Shortly after arriving in Cebu we selected a target area to begin our outreach to the local people.  Since we’ve been here we’ve gone every Saturday with a group from North Cebu Baptist Church and focused our soul winning efforts on that one specific area.  The little town of Nasipit looks small at first but we quickly discovered several clusters of homes filled with families.  There are no street names or real roads, just paths made of dirt or concrete leading you to the next group of houses and little stores. You always pass people on the road but since we’ve returned we’ve hardly met the same person twice.  The people as a whole are friendly but it didn’t take us long to realize that Cebu is very Catholic, even more so than Manila.  It was here in Cebu that Catholicism was first born around 1521 and the people have clung to its superstition and beliefs to this day.  Even a large portion of the children go to mass everyday so you can imagine some people aren’t too thrilled that we’re here.  We’ve been faithfully returning to this town for weeks now and have seen some become defiant.   Now they post their catholic symbols on their doors when they were not there before.  Praise the Lord, a few have responded well.  One young mother actually came to church and made a profession of faith!  A few children have also come but there are so much more that we need to reach!  The benefit of returning to the same area is that over time the people will get to know you on a more personal level and will eventually want to talk.  One thing we noticed right away were the requests for a backyard Bible School from several young children.  Due to these requests we’re going to change our game plan a little bit next week and bring the church to the neighborhood!  Lord willing we’ll hold a mini Sunday School class right in their backyards!  Please keep us in your prayers as we try to reach the local community of Nasipit!